Thoughts, reviews, rants, laments, and general chatting about the wonderful world(s) of comic books.

Feb 23, 2016

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 364: Fun and Games Magazine #8, April 1980

Not really too much to say about this issue. Much like the Archie puzzle digests, this issue is good for its art, but light (almost to the point of non-existence) on narrative. I did read an Archie puzzle book a little while ago that managed to incorporate its mazes and crosswords into a narrative, and I can't imagine that it would have been terribly difficult to wrap even a slight story around the puzzles in this comic. Perhaps it's this lack of narrative that caused the comic to fold in barely a year. Though, considering the even shorter amount of time given to contemporary comics, perhaps narrative had very little to do with it at all.

The comic is noteworthy for one reason: it's not filled in. Many such pieces of comics ephemera have at least one or two of the puzzles either pencilled or penned in, often in the blocky and awkward handwriting of a young person. This one has none. I find myself tempted by the empty crossword boxes, or the vast, open fields of word search letters. Maybe I'll scan them and start popping them up on my Tumblr for everyone's amusement.

Tomorrow is day 365, marking the first full year of the 40 Years of Comics Project. I've no idea what I'm going to read, but I'll try to make it something interesting and special. See you then.